Charge Nurses are management supervisors!!!

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

if a ruling pending from the national labor relations board confirms some workers as managers.

for instance, experienced registered nurses could be reclassified as charge nurses or team leaders, meaning they would effectively become managers and therefore no longer eligible for union representation.

dear colleagues:

please take the time to read these posts/ information and inform your legislators of your concerns regarding pending nlrb ruling on who can be considered a supervisor. please write/call legislators and newspapers over issues. consider attending rallys or setting up your own.

this ruling can affect all rn's just not those in unions.

supervisor in name only: union rights of eight million workers at ...stake in labor board ruling

by ross eisenbrey and lawrence mishel

july 12, 2006 | epi issue brief #225

the economic policy institute

the national labor relations board (nlrb) will soon decide three cases, known collectively as the kentucky river cases, which could change the basic rights of workers in america. if the nlrb accedes to the demands the employers are making in these cases to significantly broaden the definition of "supervisor," hundreds of thousands of employees could be stripped of their contract protections and millions more across the economy could be denied the right to form unions or engage in collective bargaining.

the national labor relations act (nlra), the nation's primary law determining the rights of employees to join unions and bargain collectively, excludes "supervisors" from the definition of "employee" (29 usc 152 (3)). a "supervisor" is defined as:

any individual having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibly to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action, if in connection with the foregoing the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment. (29 usc 152 (11))

the three cases are: oakwood healthcare inc., golden crest healthcare center, and croft metals, inc. the cases deal respectively with registered nurses (rns) acting as "charge" nurses in a hospital; "charge" nurses (rns and lpns) in a long-term care facility; and "leadmen" and "load supervisors" in a manufacturing facility.

the upcoming cases all involve whether these employees can be classified as supervisors and thus excluded from nlra protections and participation in collective bargaining because they "responsibly direct other employees" while using "independent judgment." but until now no one would have called these employees "supervisors" in the traditional sense because they do not have authority to hire, fire, discipline, evaluate, or promote the employees they supposedly supervise. www.epi.org/content.cfm/ib225 - 34k - jul 15, 2006

cohen & grigsby, pc: charge nurse - employee or supervisor? the ...

give charge nurses as much authority as possible in the attributes of a supervisor enumerated in section 2(11) of the nlra, using the checklist as a guide. ...

cohenlaw.com/news-articles-13.html

further info and discussion in activism forum:

charge nurses are management supervisors!!!